Though it’s been 108 years since Athens, Greece, last
hosted the Olympics, the essence of the games remains constant
““ peace, good will and solidarity.
And though I’m 6889.66 miles away from the XXVIII
Olympiad, I find myself cheering louder than ever for Team USA
athletes.
Unlike past Games, I watched the entire opening ceremonies. Yes,
I actually saw the whole four hours of it and every one of the 202
national delegations from the presentation of the United
States’ 536 athletes to even the British Virgin
Islands’ one athlete.
But, for me, the Olympics are more than just getting to see the
greatest athletes from around the world. They’re about seeing
the sports that aren’t glamorized in the States.
Forget tuning into basketball, soccer, swimming, track and field
and all those other million-dollar sporting industries. I find
myself glued to watching such sports as table tennis, badminton and
fencing.
Ultimately, the Olympic Games are about these sports.
They’re just as taxing on the body and just as
competitive.
The only things missing are the “extracurricular
activities.” These are the sports in which you never hear
about athletes taking steroids, negotiating their contracts, or,
dare I say, going on a strike.
These athletes are the ones that remain “pure.” The
ones that remain honest to the sport.
They are the ones that are appreciative of representing their
country and would never turn away the opportunity because of
fatigue (something many of our NBA players should be ashamed of
doing).
So there I was, mid-afternoon, finishing up an episode of
“Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” and fencing was on
next.
Though it began in 1896, fencing still has remained one of the
most fast-paced, quick-scoring sports I have ever seen. It takes
but a modicum of time to parry (block) and lunge forward at an
opponent with a pliable, thin sword.
Though I’m all for watching the athletes poke each other
like a finger to the Pillsbury Doughboy, I’d have to say the
most entertaining aspect of the sport is the getup fencers wear.
It’s basically an outfit that can only be described as a
spacesuit from “2001: A Space Odyssey” with red and
yellow lights blinking on the helmets to indicate a hit.
In the men’s sabre gold medal match (fencing has three
categories of events foil, epee and saber), Italy’s Aldo
Montano and Hungary’s Zsolt Nemcsik faced off.
With the score tied at 13 and the winner needing 15 points, I
witnessed a miraculous event.
It was more of a gesture.
After parrying an offense maneuver by Nemcsik, Montano blocked
and leaned forward but somehow lost his footing, which resulted in
a twisting of his right foot and the loss of the point. On the
floor and writhing in pain, his opponent dropped to his knees and
tended to the injured fencer.
I’ve never seen that before. But at this stage of the
sport, it’s the gamesmanship that I’m most impressed
by. That’s what it means to be a world-class athlete.
In case you’re wondering, the gold medal came down to a
sudden death, and Montano took home the gold.
Another often overlooked sport that’s considered a dainty
sport like cricket, badminton is downright exhausting. Who ever
would have thought that smashing a bird that weighs something like
a feather could make a conditioned athlete perspire like that?
What’s even more amazing is that little feathered ball can
come off the racquet at over 200 mph.
That’s nearly 50 mph faster than an Andy Roddick serve.
Nearly 100 mph faster than a Randy Johnson pitch.
Now, I’ve played badminton before in P.E., but it
wasn’t until now that I’ve seen it played at this
level.
Amazing. Good thing there’s a rubber pad in the front, or
someone’s eye might get poked out.
Brings new meaning to “fly birdie fly.” Chirp.
Chirp.
Balls fly in table tennis, which, if you haven’t seen it,
odds are that you don’t know how difficult it is. In fact,
I’m sold that this sport incorporates every ounce of
footwork, balance, speed, strength and most of mental conditioning
than any other sport.
Though many people think table tennis is only played by Asians,
that’s far from the truth. Table tennis is an extremely
popular sport worldwide, especially in many European countries.
Those guys and gals can really smack the heck out of that
1-ounce plastic ball. Some put so much spin on the ball that the
ball has been clocked at going 140 revolutions per second.
It’s one of the most fun sports to watch, as rallies are
on-the-edge-of-your-seat entertaining. Sometimes you can see
athletes playing 15 feet away from the table and even in the
grandstands as they force each other further and further away from
the table with their powering slams.
I’m entrenched into these less illustrious sports now.
Something tells me I’ll be spending more than four hours
in front of the TV these next two weeks.
E-mail Chu at bchu@media.ucla.edu if you want to get a
ping-pong rally on.